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Barret Miller – Fort Whyte Alive Special Projects Interpreter Nancy Morris introduced Mr. Barret Miller. Barret has studied Psychology and Forestry, but more importantly grew up playing and learning in the bush around Pinawa, Manitoba. He’s a former summer camp brat who’s channeled his enthusiasm and love of nature into his work at FortWhyte Alive As FortWhyte’s Special Projects Interpreter, he plans and leads field programming, teacher professional development in outdoor learning and sustainable development, and has committed to nibbling every wild edible plant Manitoba has to offer. Barret started his presentation with a story about his interaction with a Finish tourist at the centre about 4 years ago. As they were taking a buggy tour around the Fort Whyte Alive property, they came out into the open field that looks to the north. This field is very open and flat. The Finish tourist asked, “how can anyone stay and live here?”. Barret then explained how the area had become the way that it is due to the 4.5 billion years of geographic land mass shifting, glaciers, floods, glaciers and more flooding. The land is actually ‘Majestically Flat’. The Finish gentleman then said, “I see it now, you have to tell people this!”. Barret showed a map from the 1700’s that showed the faintest registration of the La Salle and Assiniboine Rivers. Not much was known about the area now known as Fort Whyte Alive. There is a granite Teepee weight that was found on the property that dates back 5,000 to 6,000 years. People have been living in the area at least that long ago. In 1857, Henry Youle Hind, the first geologist to survey the area stated “the soils are of poor clay – not fit for civilized settlers”. The land south of the river ‘Long Lots’ was left as wilderness. The clay soils lay on top of the Canadian Shield. Granite rock – 4.5 billion years old, that dives very deep under this area of Canada. There is a granite ‘rubbing stone’ for the buffalo at Fort Whyte that has been pushed south by the glaciers of the past. The Whiteshell area was an area of granite mountains 4.5 billion years ago that rivalled the Rocky Mountains that we see today to the west. Now skip 4.0 billion years and enter the Ordivician Period. About 450 million years ago this area of the world was a warm tropical ocean, this is when the tyndall stone was laid down. Next was the Devonian Period, this was a shallow tropical sea much like the Caribbean is today. For the next 100 million years Manitoba alternated between being a swamp then desert, back and forth. About 350,000 years ago there was the last major glaciation period known as the Wisconsonian Glaciation. This left behind Lake Agassiz as the glacier melted. This left the area of Manitoba in a 5,000 year ‘puddle party’. The massive volume of melt water was looking for a way to drain. During this period of outflow, the clay and gravel was left behind in the Fort Whyte area. As stated earlier, the first record of people in the area dates back ~6,000 years. They became the First Nations; Assiniboin, Dakota, Cree, Ojibwa. The buffalo were useful for food and the fur trade. The hunt was difficult but high return for the high risk. The land along the rivers was surveyed and homesteaded. These were called the ‘Long Lots’, 660 ft. of frontage and 2 miles long with a further 2 miles of grazing land. The area outside of the survey lots was Metis land. Fort Whyte was just south of the long lots. The Red River Cart was very important as it allowed the hunters to go out and hunt the large buffalo and haul them back for food and the fur trade. The ground water in a well in the Fort Whyte area remains very saline to this day. Now a little history regarding the ‘Battle that Wasn’t’. In 1888 Winnipeg was thriving. The CPR rail line was in operation East /West for ~ 15 years. It was not allowed to travel North/South. The closest major city was Minneapolis to the south. Any rail line built to Minneapolis, to the south, would have to cross over the existing CPR line. The existing Red River Cart trails became roads. These roads and the river boats were not enough. Another rail line North/South would have to be built. The Northern Pacific Railway and Manitoba Railway were lobbying for expansion to parts of the prairies not serviced by the Canadian Pacific Railway and its singular transcontinental line. In October 1886, William Whyte, a Scottish emigré working for the Canadian Pacific Railway in eastern Canada, arrived in Winnipeg to oversee CPR western operations. He was the general superintendent of the Western Division, CPR. In 1888, he was determined to stop this upstart railway. He went into Winnipeg bars and saloons to recruit security personnel/thugs to work for him. What ensued was a running gang war. The 1885 Riel Rebellion was over at this time. There were 4 armored locomotives that had been prepared to be used in the Riel Rebellion, but never were. William Whyte had those armored locomotives brought to the Fort Whyte area to act as a strong point. The local papers started to call the situation ‘The Standoff at Fort Whyte’. The name stuck! Business men in the Minneapolis area were going to send men to help, this could have led to us being in a North – North Dakota. Four police officers from Winnipeg went out to enforce a Supreme Court of Canada decision to allow the North/South railway to be built. Winter was setting in. Everyone went home. In 1907 cars started to appear in Winnipeg. This meant that roads needed to be built with concrete. Lime was brought from the Stony Mountain area and the gravel at Fort Whyte was of the perfect size and type for the mix. A concrete factory was built starting with 1 pit in 1907. By 1950 there were 5 pits, but they were now filled with water. Of note is that during the 1919 General Strike, the concrete factory kept producing concrete. This was so that their work force would not go and join the strike. The material was just dumped into the bush. After 1950 it was not an act of government that created the nature area, it was actually concrete factory workers that wanted to turn the area green again. The ‘Lucky 13 Rod and Gun Club’ were the first to oversee the area. All they did was leave nature to its own devices. In 1963 6 Canada Geese were brought into the area with the hope that they would nest and thrive in the area. Well, they did! An aerial map/ picture shows the area as green with natural growth. A steel structure with a concrete floor is built at 2505 McGillivary Blvd. In 1973 the ‘Adventure Centre’ is built. In 1981 further expansion has the ‘Interpretive Centre’ built. In 1995 the last of the clay pits is closed. There are large fields of sugar beets and wheat around the Centre. These lands are sold to the Fort Whyte Centre. In 2000 the ‘Reception Centre’ is built. The latest addition is ‘Fort Whyte Farms’ that produces honey and vegetables for sale. This project also provides jobs that help to instill a proper work ethic in the employees. The farm also gives the employees a feeling of responsibility. There are 20 staff at ‘Fort Whyte Alive’ as well as ~300 volunteers that really keep the operation going. There is a wilderness zone that has been put aside to be left as a natural area. This has been named the ‘Giving Grove’ in honor of the volunteers. The complex has been called ‘Fort Whyte Alive’ for 10 years now. There would be no human history without natural history. Q/A 1. Chuck Crocker asked exactly where the armored locomotives were stationed?
A. – Not totally sure, but ~ 1.5 miles south of the CPR junction. Paul Brault thanked Barret for his thorough and entertaining presentation. He was advised that a donation in his name would be made to ShelterBox. |
